DROP IN THE BUCKET - A NON PROFIT ORGANIZATION BUILDING
WELLS AND SANITATION SYSTEMS AT SCHOOLS IN AFRICA

FAQs

FAQs

What is Drop in the Bucket?

Drop in the Bucket is a Los Angeles based non-profit organization with field offices in Uganda and South Sudan. We build wells and sanitation systems at large rural schools in sub-Saharan Africa. Drop In The Bucket believes clean water is a basic human right that must be met in order to help people break the cycle of poverty.

What is the goal of Drop in the Bucket?

Drop in the Bucket’s goal is to provide schools and communities with tools they need to improve child heath, increase school enrollment rates, and promote gender equality, which are all key to helping communities move themselves out of poverty.

Who specifically does Drop in the Bucket aid?

We have worked in hundreds of villages in East Africa building wells and sanitation systems at schools as well as facilitating programs that promote health, sanitation and community involvement in maintaining the wells.

Is Drop in the Bucket affiliated with any political or religious organizations?

No, Drop in the Bucket does not have any affiliations with any political or religious organizations and has no political or religious agenda of any kind. We exist purely as a humanitarian aid group working in water, sanitation, education, gender equality and community development.

Who is the creator of Drop in the Bucket?

Drop in the Bucket was formed by a TV producer named Stacey Travis and a group of her friends who after reading about the deadly world water crisis decided to do something about it.

What is the story behind Drop in the Bucket?

After hearing that two doctors from her home town in Tennessee were going to be traveling to Uganda to set up a medical clinic, Los Angeles based TV producer, Stacey Travis asked if she could come along. In 2006 Stacey, along with her husband John and their friend Cassie traveled to Uganda with the doctors and a group of volunteers. While talking to the doctors before the trip, Stacey realized that the majority of health ailments the communities were dealing with were directly related to the water they were drinking, so the group from Los Angeles decided to ask their friends to help get a well built for one of the villages they were about to visit. After holding a fundraiser at a friends house, they raised the money to fund the first two wells. Because donations kept coming in, they kept drilling wells and as of December 2016, DROP has completed over 350 wells across sub-Saharan Africa.

Why should I care?

Every year 1.4 million children die from diseases caused by unclean water and poor sanitation. That adds up to 4,000 children dying every day or one child every 20 seconds. All of these deaths are easily preventable by simply providing clean water and sanitation.

ABOUT DONATIONS:

• How can I donate?

You can donate by mail, or online using this link. We accept donations by check, money order, cashier’s checks, PayPal and all major credit cards.

• Where do donations to Drop In the Bucket go to?

Donations go to building wells and sanitation systems at schools in Africa.

How much of donations go directly to the cause?

When running an organization that has a large program on the ground in several developing countries, there will always be expenses. We try to keep our overhead expenses to a minimum so that as much of the money raised as possible goes directly to programs on the ground. On average between 76% and 87% of all money raised goes directly to our projects in Africa.

How will my donations be spent?

Your donation will be spent on building wells and sanitation systems as well as facilitating programs that promote health, sanitation and community involvement in maintaining the wells. A minimal percentage of your donation may be used to cover operating costs such as printing, web posting, staff salaries, and transportation in Africa, but this is unavoidable with any organization where the majority of its work happens in the developing world.

• Is my donation tax deductible?

Yes, Drop in the Bucket is a registered 501(c)(3) not for profit organization. Our EIN# is 20-5560045

Yes, we would love your help. Please contact us so we can discuss details.

Can I directly accompany Drop in the Bucket on trips?

We do get a lot of emails every week from people who want to come with us on a trip, and if we took everyone we would not have time to get any work done, so what we do is let you earn the right to come. If you set up a fundraising campaign and raise a significant amount of money we will bring you with us and you can experience our work firsthand. Though we must warn you, everybody that comes will have to do some kind of work once you are there.

How can my school get involved?

If you are a teacher or work in the education field we have fundraising resources you can access here.

If you are a student and are interested in getting your school involved, please click here.